No longer here
by sagapaga
Summary: When a relative to Keroro dies, he and Giroro is sent to Keron to attend on the funeral.


Giroro sat just outside his tent, as usual, with some sweet potatoes wrapped in aluminium foil over a bonfire, and a gun in his hands. Polishing. As usual. It smelled spring. The air promised new life to Pekopon. Everything was fresh from a passing rain, but the sun had suddenly decided to show up from its hiding behind the clouds. He was in a good mood.

Until he heard the surprised yelp from Natsumi.

Suddenly with all senses on high alert, he followed his first instinct and shot right through the glassed doors and jumped over the couch to land dramatically in the hallway. Glass flew around him together with gun-smoke.

"What's the matter, Natsumi?!"

"Giroro, did you brake the glass door?!"

"_No! _But _yes!"_

She had a chocked look in her brown eyes, mixed with the anger. He allowed himself to get distracted for a second by her perfectly combed hair, her gorgeous face and that beautiful body of hers. Then he noticed that the door was open.

There stood two Keronians.

He hadn't seen them before. It was a male and a female, both dressed in a pitch black rain coats. _Not good._ He knew those coats everywhere. They were connetcted with memories of crying women and trembling kids and sad faces on relatives... _Not good at all!_ The female smiled at him.

"Ah, you must be Corpral Giroro! It's written right here that you and your platoon have your base here", she said calmly and made a gesture towards a bunch papers she held. "I'm looking for you and ... Sergeant Keroro." The male Keronian followed her example and smiled, too. It was a soft smile, but Giroro didn't like it. He had seen them smile like that when telling people that...

"I am", he said. In the corner of his eyes, he saw Natsumi looking at them suspiciously. He mentally nodded in approvement when he noticed that she was alert on the strangers.

"Mind if we come in," the male said. It was no question. They stepped in and walked past Natsumi, who still didn't say anything, but surely didn't look pleased. Giroro passed her an apologetic smile.

"This way", he said to the duo. He showed them down to Keroros room. The mere thought of what they were gonna say made him tense nervously.

Keroro sat on the floor with a comic book. He looked up, and just like Giroro, he recognized their outfits and tensed. A look of dislike washed over his eyes before being replaced by worry. He closed his comic without caring to mark where he was, never letting his eyes off the duo. Giroro got the feeling that his leader had met these two before. The female smiled.

"Nice to see you again, Keroro. You've grown into a handsome young man", she said softly. But what marked his suspicions for real was the stern expression on Keroros face. Oh yeah, they had met before, and he guessed that it was under the same conditions. Keroros green lips pressed together tightly.

"Come to the point, Nyhehe", he said. Giroro was surprised at Keroros way to react. Surely he knew what was gonna happen. He himself couldn't help but feel a slight worry at the upcoming news. A terrible thought make his blood turn into ice. _Not Garuru. I beg to the Keronian Gods, please not Garuru!_ The female, Nyhehe, put on that soft, understanding smile he didn't like and looked at him. Then at Keroro. Then at him again. Finally she turned back to Keroro and looked straightly in his black eyes.

"I'm terribly sorry for you; he was a great man in every way and I honestly didn't wish for this to happen." She made a dramatic pause. _Not Garuru, please. I wouldn't handle it,_ Giroro thought for himself. Then he instantly wished nobody had heard his thoughts.

"So..." Keroro said sternly. He didn't look pleased. Not at all. He nearly scared Giroro. Her understanding smile grew wider.

"Your father is dead."

..-..-..-..-..-..- _(Keroro)_

Keroro sat quiet on the Hinatas couch together with the two Keronians who spoke to Natsumi and Fuyuki. He felt numb. The voices of the Nyhehe and Natsumi sounded as if they spoke through cotton. He couldn't concentrate on what they were saying, so he continued to stare at the coffee patch on the table.

Dad was _dead_! _dead dead dead dead dead deaddeaddeaddeaddeaddeaddead dead!_ Sure, people died every day, more often when you joined the army. But since Keroro himself had joined he hadn't taken time to worry about his relatives as he did when he was little. Had Dad worried about him?

It couldn't be real. It was probably a joke. Or a dream. Or some crazy invention from Kururu.

"It was a bunch of Vipers", Nyhehe explained. Keroro decided to listen. "A great battle, really. And the Demon Sergeant was well known for battling Vipers. Only something went wrong. The HQ lost contact and then we realised it was a trap. By then it was allready too late." A pause when she did something with her papers. He didn't look up to see what she did. "We think the entire battlefield got gassed with some kind of toxin. The lab is still trying to figure out what kind. Everyone who survived got greatly confused so we can't figure out exactly what happened until we find an antidote."

Keroro looked up. Nyhehe still wore her false smile. He couldn't stand that smile. So he left, ignoring the calls from Natsumi.

..-..-..-..-..-..- _(Giroro)_

Two days later, the entire platoon stood on the train station together with a bunch of Pekoponians. Keroro pulled his bag higher up on his shoulder before he got a hug from Mois.

"Uncle! I'm so sorry for you and I'll miss you so! You could say, the feelings are overwhelming me!" she sobbed and he stroked her back. Giroro couldn't hear what his leader told the girl to calm her down, but it worked. He glanced over the crowd that were gonna wave them off. He saw teary-eyed faces on both Keronians and Pekoponians. Except on Kururu.

Momoka looked uncertain, as if she didn't know what to do or say. Fuyuki looked concerned. But it was Natsumi that chocked him. She had something ... odd in her eyes. He couldn't pin-point it, though.

He watched how Keroro unsteadily entered the train. The poor guy hadn't gotten enough sleep. He hadn't eaten enough, either. The sergeant forced a smile towards his platoon before disappearing from sight.

"Does he have to?" Tamama asked the black-dressed male. "why can't I come along, if Giroro can?"

"The funeral is only for friends and relatives to the dead. Giroros dad was in the same platoon as Keroros dad, so he's also sent home", the male said. Giroro turned to enter and sent a final glance at Natsumi, who was fiddling with a loose thread on her shirt and looked at him with her big, brown eyes. Then he entered.

He found Keroro in the last wagon, leaning sideways, face turned away fom him. Giroro sat silent beside him. He looked out and watched when Nyhehe and the male entered. They didn't come to the same wagon as Keroro and Giroro. Good, Giroro decided. When the train started to roll away Keroro looked up. His lifeless eyes gave Giroro the chills. So often full of life and mischevious ideas. Now without soul. Giroro didn't say anything, but continued to look into those eyes. It became hard, when Keroro didn't attempt to look away. He didn't look like caring, either.

When Giroro couldn't take it anymore, he sighed. With a hesitant move, he reached for the green invader and moved him into a friendly embrace. Keroro sniffed slighly and dug his head in Giroros shoulder. He murmured something inaudible and Giroro pretended to agree.

No tears came, though.

He watched as his platoon and friend disappeared from sight and how Big Space flew past. Keroro fell asleep on him so he put him into a lying position, with his bag as a pillow.

Giroro hadn't known Keroros dad too well, but Keroro had always loved him, even though he had been gone alot in different missions, and when he was home, he was drunk all too often. Still, it was what his friend had grown up with. How did it feel to loose someone you loved? Poor Keroro must be broken.

A teenager Keronian entered with a carriage filled with sodas and cookies. She smiled politely and walked towards them.

"Would you like to buy something, sir? We have special cookies from planet Ypsagon today. They're delicious!" She said. Giroro bought some coffee. Then he figured Keroro would be hungry when he woke up. He bought two sandwiches. The girl glanced at Keroro and smiled.

"Should I get a blanket, sir?"

"Yeah. Thanks." She nodded and left for the blanket.

Giroro wondered why the girl had been so young, and realised that it must be holidays at Keron, and she probably worked extra until school started again.

The girl came back with a blue blanket under her right arm. She handed it to Giroro, who placed it over the green ones body. He noticed that she glanced a little too long at Keroro before smiling and hurrying away.

He sipped his coffe while sometimes looking at the passing planets, and sometimes glancing at the big clock on the wall before him. He guessed it showed the time on Keron, but wasn't sure.

The young girl came back to show them to their respective sleeping wagons. He didn't want to wake Keroro up; then he surely wouldn't fall asleep again. So he lifted the limp body over one shoulder and their bags over the other. The teenager arched one brow, but led them to their wagon without saying anything else than "This way, sir" and "The toilet is over there, sir".

The room was just two beds and a table, everything stuck in the walls. He roughly placed Keroro on one bed before climbing onto his own.

He had problems falling asleep. His mind got filled with thoughts he didn't want to acknowledge. They were on their way to the funeral of the Demon Sergeant himself! It didn't feel real. Didn't even sound logical! He moved to a more comfortable position. Keroros dad was dead! They were going to his funeral!

An hour later he decided that he couldn't sleep, so he sat up and got a gun to polish. He tensed when Keroro moved and opened his pitch-black eyes.

"Did I wake you up?" Giiroro asked.

"No", was the only answer he got. Keroro sat up and leaned his back on the wall. He wrapped the blanket around him. Giroro handed him a sandwitch. They sat in silence and watched Big Space pass by. Giroro thought he recognized one of the planets they passed, and got a vague view of where they were.

After some time Keroro put back the sandwitch on the table. He hadn't eaten more than a third. Giroro glared at him.

"Eat more."

"I'm not hungry", Keroro said matter-of-factly. Giroro scowled and raised his gun. The green invader flinched, surprised. He put it just in front of Keroros face.

"You haven't eaten properly in two days, I'm sure you're hungry if you give it a thought", he growled.

"Geez, put away the gun, Giroro", Keroro said, sounding chocked. Looking chocked, too.

"Take the sandwitch and eat!"

He took the sandwitch, without letting his eyes leave the gun. Giroro didn't take it away from his face until he took another bite. When Giroro was sure that he would eat up everything, he finally relaxed and put the gun away. Keroro breathed out.

After that, Giroro felt slightly better. Theatening someone was just what he needed to get the stress off his mind! Really, it was a long time he had pointed a gun at someone. Even though it wasn't the enemy, and he hadn't planned on actually pulling the trigger.

-..-..-..-..-..-..-..- _(Still Giroro)_

They didn't get any sleep before they were on Keron. The first thing Giroro noticed was that Garuru had come to meet them along with Keroros mother, who was hanging on the purple one, crying loudly. He waved at Giroro from the bench they were sitting on.

The second thing he noticed was how chilly it was. Even though it was spring on Pekopon, it was probably fall on Keron. Or early winter. Both Garuru and Keroros mother wore thick scarves. Garuru flashed them a welcoming smile and somehow made Keroros mother look up from his shoulder.

Keroro smiled sadly at her, making her burst into tears and sobs. Garuru made her stand up, and she ran into her sons arms. Keroro stumbled backwards, but managed to stand up and wrap his arms around her. Giroro closed his eyed and listened to the loudly sobs from the green female and the soothing murmuring from his childhood friend.

His eyes opened and he looked at his brother. No words were needed when he looked through the yellow glass hiding his brothers eyes.

The silence was enough.

**-..-..-..-..-..-**

**Ooooookay, sooo. This is the reason I haven't uploaded 'since death touched him' in a while... I think this will be a three-shot, but I won't upload it before I've finished 'since death touched him'. I think.**

**But I liked the idea so I had to write it down.**

**I think this chapter feels a little rushed...**

**R&R**

**/SagaPaga**


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